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2017 men’s & women’s leagues get back into gear at Bath CC event…

Following the cancellation of the last round of the 2017 Steele Davis Cotswold League (hosted by Radeon-BikeScience) due to terrible weather (and lack of entries for the women’s event), the sun came out and everything kicked back into gear on Sunday (6th August) with the Bath CC event over on the 22km Sherston course. With such a long loop, both the men’s and women’s races could take place at the same time – meaning additional helpers were needed, but giving marshals and spectators more action to watch.

Our thanks as always go to the organiser and the army of helpers that gave up their free time to make the event happen. And a big thank you to Laura Grigson (Grigson Photography) for the pictures.

Women’s race report / results:A strong field of 27 women took to the start line of the Bath CC Cotswold League road race and after a slow start along the Fosse Way towards Sherston the attacks started to come thick and fast out on the road towards Acton Turville. This headwind section proved to be a testing part of the course, d with attacks being launched on this stretch of road every lap, it looked like there was a good chance for a break to form. With 4km to go Corinne Clark, Velo Vitesse (a former League winner and the current Steele David Blue Jersey wearer) put in a strong attack, however with less than 1km to go this was closed down by the much reduced bunch – lining things up for a fast sprint to the line.

As the finish was a downhill tailwind sprint it meant the sprinters started from further out than normal, and with 300 metres to go Rebecca Waters, Performance Cycles (just back from her placement year in Canada) hit the front to win by a good couple of bike lengths.

Men’s race report / results:After several initial attacks a strong 11 man break established itself after 8 miles of racing, with representation from Bristol, Radeon and Velovitesse the break worked well together and quickly gained a minutes lead. By the end of the 2nd lap this lead had extended to over a minute and a halfs. Adrian Lawson and Deacon Cutterham both punctured after two laps, but Adrian managed to change his wheel and get back to the peloton. With just over a lap to go Adrian Lawson (Latcham Sunwise), George Wise (VC Equipe) and Rory Gilling (Velo Club Montpleier) attacked again and Bristol RC used their numbers wisely and managed to get Ross and Shaun to cover the break, and the five of them bridged across to the front group.

They made the catch with 6kms to go. Robert Telford of Veloton was just too strong for Lee Davis (VeloVitesse) in the sprint who edged out Tom Sharp (Bristol RC) to 3rd Place. Bristol RC finished strongly with 4 riders in the top 10.

David Billings (Radeon) escaped from the peloton for 14th and Ben Luckwell used his experience to win the bunch sprint for 15th place.